Graphic Design ForumDiscuss and share graphic design and multimedia topics and projects, including ads, banners, logos, etc. Be creative. Be original. Show us what you got. Constructive criticism only!

Just to add my little tuppence, my wife studied sciences through to degree level, encouraged by parents (which was pretty popular at the time), even though she had a real desire to be an artist.

She's been a frustrated artist ever since, and never really settled on a career until she took a complete break when we started a family, which gave her a chance to really think about the second stage of her working life. She has since thrown herself into becoming a designer, and although she was lacking in official training, it is hard to say at this stage that she hasn't learned the necessary skills through her own study (lets face it, you can find a tutorial on just about anything online these days), and her talent is pretty clear - to me at least!

So, I would come down on the side of talent, which has to be supported by training, but the latter comes so much more easily if you have the interst and desire from the start.

for me it would be great if a person has both a degree and a natural talent ... a degree and natural talent is something that you would want to show off your skills. but natural talent really weigh's in more than a design degree holder because it would be easy for a person to adopt on a corporate world if he has natural talent in drawing or design and it is really a plus.

Degree doesn't matter... I've graduated from a college with honors and I know how people learn in college :b ... your best bet is always to go with someone who can deliver the results, and the person who loves what he's doing will often be talented in it because that's why they love it -- and they'll be the ones to give you the best output

The guy with talent, but without proper skills: great ideas+poor technique=fail
The guy with proper skills, but without talent: well-done standard solutions+poor wow-factor=fail
The guy with skills and talent=success.
That's it.

How many of you would agree that getting numerous design degrees is useless until you don't have the real natural talent in yourself. Its the inborn talent which makes you successful, especially in the field of graphic design.

However, many of my friends think that studying hard with real determination are the crucial requirements to achieve success, not talent.

Well, my vote goes for “Talent”…let’s see if you guys have valid points to prove your opinion.

Well someone may have a talent but yet not to know in which direction to think so that he can discover his possibilities. Studying and reading about it can help you form some ideas and let your talent get more present than before.

Some1 who get numerous of degrees have to have some kind of will to learn everything he needs to so he can get his degree. That is enough for me, he can't be bad at designing if he put that much effort to learn and understand.

Find your niche, the clients you get keep them close as you can.
I've started in 1999 as a young teenager who wanted to build things that weren't built yet, and since I was broke... didn't know anyone who could do it, I taught myself. After a few hundred websites and thousands of projects I think i did pretty good. I'm still revamping every chance I get

Knowledge is key, but if you don't share it or use it... it's worthless.

PS: If your school is going to give you a job 100% sure, and or going to supply you with clients from the time you graduate then i take it back.... go get a degree.
(school never teaches how to get work).

I am self taught. I see how it could be challenging if you do not have a degree. I believe the school "experience" would broaden your scope and open you up to expand on what you already have. Just my two cents.